Biography

Luttrell’s mother defended the estate vigorously during his minority from the encroachments of neighbours and the attempts of the inhabitants of Minehead to escape the control of its lords. Luttrell went up to Oxford in 1676 and, according to Anthony à Wood, almost became a peer while still an undergraduate, when the bishop of Oxford was granted the patent for an earldom by which he might raise the money for completing the great gate of Christ Church. Luttrell did not secure the peerage, however, perhaps because he was unable to pay the £1,000 required, though according to Wood, he already enjoyed an income of £4,000 p.a.3

Luttrell was still under age when he was first elected in 1679 for the family borough of Minehead, which he continued to represent until his death. In the first Exclusion Parliament he was appointed only to the committee of elections and privileges and is not known to have spoken. Shaftesbury expected his support, classing him as ‘honest’, but he did not vote for the exclusion bill, having been given leave of absence nine days before the division. In the second Exclusion Parliament he was appointed to two committees, one of which was for the bill for the discovery of estates settled to superstitious uses on 7 Jan. 1681. In the Oxford Parliament no activity is recorded.4

Luttrell acquired by marriage the ex-monastic properties of the elder branch of the Tregonwell family in Somerset and Dorset, which were estimated to bring in £2,500 p.a. As a j.p. he was hostile to nonconformists. Elected again for Minehead in 1685, he took no known part in James II’s Parliament, but he was probably a court supporter. During the summer he commanded a militia regiment against the Duke of Monmouth, but was unable to distinguish himself as most of his men deserted.5

By 1687, James II’s religious policy was causing Luttrell’s allegiance to falter, and he refused his consent to the repeal of the Test and Penal Laws; in consequence he was deprived of his deputy lieutenancy and was removed from the commission of the peace. In November 1688 he raised a regiment in support of William of Orange and was given a permanent commission after the Revolution, although he had voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. He was otherwise inactive in the Convention. He died on 25 July 1690 while with his regiment at Plymouth waiting to go overseas. His brother inherited his seat as well as a seriously encumbered estate, representing Minehead until his death in 1708.6